The Chronicles of a Scalebound Sage

WM [1] Just Another Demon

All the windows had been sealed, and the building had no natural light. Bjorn hadn’t seen the sun in weeks and was getting antsy. They moved underground at night and stayed in one place during the day. He understood why—he was a three-headed hydra with antlers, not something they could easily disguise. Being the size of a pony meant he would draw attention, and since they were on the run, that would not be good.

He sighed as he looked around the office space of the large warehouse they were in this time. From what he remembered, it belonged to one of the Isi sympathizers, which is what people who aided them had come to be called. As it turned out, many people wanted to help the Isi. Most of the town guards and soldiers who couldn’t use magic were trained directly by them, after all. They would have left the city, but Loki had constructs that watched all of the gatehouses.

Not to mention that they were still technically criminals, and while they had many sympathizers, they had many more people who would turn them in if they were found out. This was only compounded by the fact that the First Prince himself labeled the Isi as traitors in the first place. Not to mention, Bjorn blew up one of their priceless gatehouses. So yeah, they were stuck until whoever also contested the domain showed up.

“Are you sure you don’t want to see the next memory?” Failsafe asked in his head.

The Reincarnation Failsafe magic construct had become more insistent on viewing the hydra’s memories as soon as they became available. Its insistence came from the fact that he would lose access to the memories if he didn’t internalize them and lost levels again. Bjorn realized Failsafe was right but was worried about what he would see. The last time he saw the memories of his past life before his reincarnation as a True Hydra, he doomed his people to death or slavery.

“Not now. I want to be alert if something happens,” Bjorn responded mentally. “It would be a big distraction on my mind if we do it before we get out of here.”

“You keep saying that, but it is just like sleeping. If something happens, you’ll wake up.”

Another reason Bjorn didn’t want to view his memories was the warning he got from his hydra mother, the Queen of a Thousand Heads when she spoke to him and gave him back access to aether. She warned him that reincarnators sometimes get ridealongs from death with less-than-noble intentions. He wanted to trust Failsafe but, at the same time, needed to find out more about the supposed Reincarnation Failsafe first. Until he had confirmation, he didn’t want to let the construct see more of his past life. Or maybe it was just a defense against allowing himself to see how he got his people killed.

“I said no for now. Just drop it,” Bjorn said.

“Fine, fine, I am just bored. Why don’t we see what the others are doing, at least?”

It was silent again as Failsafe gave up on his thousandth attempt to get Bjorn to view his memories. With nothing else to do, Bjorn opened his mental projection menus. He figured he might as well see if anything had changed since he had nothing better to do. Failsafe had been working on a third page, too, and maybe he was done with it.

“You finish that third page?” Bjorn asked.

“Oh, yeah, but it only shows your Magic Disciplines specializations, so it’s useless,” Failsafe said, unamused. “I don’t think you need another page to tell you you are venomous.”

“I’ll take a look anyway,” Bjorn responded.

Status Menu
Name: Bjorn Isin Scalebound
Species: Lernaean Hydra
Level: 32
Vitality: 140 / 195
Restoration: 210 / 270
Constitution: 120 / 135
Strength: 90 / 130
Dexterity: 80 / 100
Stamina: 90 / 115
Aether: 50 / 50
Aetheric Regeneration: 100 / 100 (+100 from bond)

Page 1 of 3

Skills Analysis

Reincarnation Failsafe
An incomplete reincarnation magic and your best friend who has your back no matter what!

Error: Unknown Pact < Error: Eyes of the Queen
The Queen of a Thousand Heads is watching you. Be sure to eat well, and don’t talk to strangers from Higher Planes!

Venomous Bite
Aether Cost: 0
You have a neurotoxic venom, which can be injected through a bite with your fangs. Your venom becomes infectious and will spread to nearby targets within five feet of the injected target. Allies are unaffected by your venom.

Poison Cloud
Aether Cost: 5
With your right head, you can mix venom into the air using magic, creating a large area of poisonous gas. This gas will rapidly reduce the health of those inside. Allies within your Poison Cloud are unaffected. Gain control over the spread and density of the Poison Cloud.

Plague Fire Breath
Aether Cost: 8
With your left head, you can breathe a plume of superheated toxin, which will ignite enemies and infect them with your neurotoxin. Flames retain toxicity until you release the spell. Plague Fire will spread like normal fire.

Aetheric Breath
Aether Cost: 15
I have no idea what this is or how it works. It replaced Maya Breath, but until you use it, I don’t know what it will do. I recommend trying it when no one is around.

Poison Claws
Aether Cost: 2
You can infuse your claws with neurotoxic venom, making even minor scratches fatal. Venom has resistance to cleansing effects. Allies are unaffected by your venom.

Delta Familiar Contract
Aether Cost: -100
You are a bonded delta-class familiar. You gain +100 to aetheric regeneration. Your bond has grown, allowing you to convey emotions through your bond. Your bond is more resistant to outside influences and cannot be forcibly severed by outside parties.

King of the Reptiles
Passive Skill
Dragons, lizards, and amphibians all show hesitation and fear around you, going so far as to run away. More study is needed.

Intimidation Roar
Aether Cost: 1
Infuse aether into your roar to paralyze anyone who hears it. Your roar can paralyze humanoid magic constructs as long as they are connected to a magic caster. Paralysis duration depends on distance and level disparity between you and the target. Those bound to you are immune to this effect.

Hydra Regeneration
Aether Cost: 15
(So funny story, we grew another head, I have no idea why…) We have enough aether to use this now. I still don’t recommend decapitation, though. We can convert experience or aether into maturation, healing major wounds, decapitation, or growing more heads. Let’s not push our luck too much, though. Every time we do something, you almost get us killed as-is.

Air Claws
Commune with your master to unlock.

Aetheric Scales
Commune with your master to unlock.

Hydromancy
Commune with your master to unlock.

Water Light
Commune with your master to unlock.

Hydro-breath
Commune with your master to unlock.

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Twin-Soul Core Analysis

Error: Twin-Soul Core
Error… your soul has been bonded and should be permanently fused to that of the Sage of Seiðr. Error… Calculating… This bond was interrupted by The Queen of a Thousand Heads before the permanent connection was complete… calculating… The Ringularity Core of the Sage of Seiðr was stabilized by this partial semi-permanent soul tether because of P̵̫̗͗o̸̖͛̂i̴͔͐s̷͍̈o̵̯̗̓ǹ̸̘̌. Without a complete and permanent tethering of your souls, you must commune with the Sage of Seiðr to unlock Twin Soul Core abilities. 

NOTE from P̵̫̗͗o̸̖͛̂i̴͔͐s̷͍̈o̵̯̗̓ǹ̸̘̌: What did I say about opening your soul up to strangers? This wasn’t very smart. I saved that tramp this time only because she’s been feeding you, and so I can deal with her.

Permanently fuse your souls and complete bond [No/No] (NOTE from P̵̫̗͗o̸̖͛̂i̴͔͐s̷͍̈o̵̯̗̓ǹ̸̘̌: Don’t you even think about it, Aki’al!)

Nature Discipline
Specialties:
Venefikinesis - Creation and control of toxins, venoms, and poisons.

Elemental Discipline

Specialties:
Aerokinesis - Control over air currents and atmosphere.
Hydrokinesis - Creation of and control over water.
Pyrokinesis - Creation of and control over heat, fire, and thermal temperature.

Page 3 of 3

There were more changes than he expected. The third page was not only visible, but he also had notes from P̵̫̗͗o̸̖͛̂i̴͔͐s̷͍̈o̵̯̗̓ǹ̸̘̌, his hydra mother. Failsafe had said there were only his magic disciplines and specializations on this page, which meant it was something else the construct could not see. Bjorn didn’t know why the construct couldn’t see it. He believed it was something his mother did to him, or it was because it was information that dealt not only with his magic but also with his soul.

Bjorn sighed a long sigh of relief he didn’t know he had been holding. The thought of being permanently bonded in life and death was not something he wanted. There were too many unknowns when it came to bonding one’s soul. The Familiar bond connected them magically and already came with a compulsion to protect Tanisha. He was okay with that bond for now, but how long would that be the case?

“Just to be certain, on the third page, what can you see, Failsafe? Read everything to me?” Bjorn said mentally to the construct.

Failsafe complained but complied and confirmed that he could only see the Nature and Elemental disciplines and their respective specialties. Bjorn decided not to tell him about the information he could not see.

Bjorn stood up, his long serpentine form was completely normal to him now. He could not help but think how it felt so awkward when he first reincarnated. His three heads swiveled around as he looked for the door out of the room he was in. There was distant, muffled conversation. With his enhanced sense of smell and taste, every time his tongue flicked, he could quite literally taste the magic, maya, chakra, and seiðr in the air.

“We finally going to check on everyone?” Failsafe asked.

“That is a good idea,” Bjorn said. “We might be getting ready to move again anyway.”

Bjorn left the office and walked into the large, filled warehouse where countless goods in crates and barrels were stacked on hundreds of shelves. The office was raised a level, allowing him to look down over almost the entirety of the lower storage area. Thanks to his Dark Vision, his vision from his six eyes was not impeded, even with the low light of just a few active glow stones.

He lazily walked down the stairs with a yawn that started at his right head, only to influence his other heads to join in. In the lower level, there were mainly young women and children, the survivors from the battle at the gatehouse. The fact that mainly women were left was only due to the fact that they were noncombatants not that they were women. Bjorn found that in wendigo society, because of their physiology, men and women had the same aptitude to gaining strength, so everyone was equally expected to be able to fight.

These were the wives, mothers, and children of the Isi disciples who had fallen. There weren’t many people left, just seventeen adults and thirteen children, excluding himself, Tyr, Joha and Tanisha. As Bjorn walked by a group of people, a young boy ran up to him, no older than four years old and too young to fully understand their situation.

Identify
Name: Niall Luipin
Race: Wendigo
Level: 0
Vocation: Noncombatant

Bjorn hadn’t intended to use his Identify on the boy but guessed he must have focused too hard on him as he approached. The boy’s mother ran after him as he latched onto Bjorn’s leg with a massive smile on his face. She was not as enthusiastic about seeing Bjorn as the young boy was. He couldn’t blame her; by now, she had to have heard about what he had done to the heavily enchanted gatehouse.

“Bjorn, Bjorn! Up-up!” Niall called out happily to him.

“Niall, no, you can’t just order someone else’s familiar,” the mother stated.

Bjorn didn’t mind, though, and wrapped his long tail gently around the boy under his arms and lifted him onto his back. This wasn’t the first time Niall wanted a ride, to the apparent chagrin of his mother. The woman knew Bjorn was intelligent, a common trait developed by familiars, so when he walked the giggling boy over to her, she was flushed in the face from embarrassment.

“Sorry about that, Master Bjorn,” the woman said as she took the boy off his back.

The tired-looking woman took the boy away, and Bjorn thought no more of it as he continued his walk. There was another office near one of the large loading bay doors. Bjorn knew the people he was looking for were inside, so he casually strode over and used his hand-like claws to open the door. The talking on the other side stopped immediately until they saw it was him.

Inside were his master Tanisha, her mentor, the rakshasa tiger demon Joha, Tyr, the new Patriarch of the Isi Family, and two of his warriors, Ketil and Sunniva, conversing in a semicircle. The warehouse’s owner, Beck, was also present, as they were most likely discussing logistics for another hideout. The darkness constructs had become increasingly relentless in the past few days.

“Bjorn? Is something wrong, Big Man?” Tanisha asked.

Bjorn shook his heads and slinked inside, walking over to her. It was hard to believe she was the same person from nearly two months ago when he had hatched from an egg in her dorm room. Not only was she significantly more powerful, but she wasn’t even the same species anymore. She did the impossible and reshaped her soul and, by extension, her body into a new creature.

She was the Sage of Seiðr and the only cernunnos in existence. The alterations to her soul had changed the sixteen-year-old girl. Her body matured, and she now looked to be in her twenties. She was taller, at least six foot five, and her eyes were golden orbs that spun with untold magical energies. Her raven black hair was far longer than she used to keep it. For the time being, she had it in a ponytail, accentuating her new long elf-like ears. The long black tail waved in the air most strikingly when she saw him.

She was so different from her previous self that most people didn’t even know she was the same person. Nearly everyone assumed Tanisha had died and this new person was just another demon like Joha. No one corrected that assumption, and she was now going by the alias Sif, which just cemented the fact. The only people who knew she was Tanisha were himself, Joha, and Tyr, although the latter did not know why her appearance had changed.

“Sorry for the interruption,” Tanisha said to the group. “It would appear he just wanted to check on us.”

Beck, the owner of the warehouse, waved off the interruption. “I will think nothing of it. As I said, we will have to move you all out tonight. My son has heard some rumblings that some people were snooping around previous hideouts. They weren’t constructs.”